Walk with Me While I Walk with Those Who Walked for Freedom

Those bold enough to confront challenges bring change.

Throughout February, in commemoration of Black History Month, the National Library of Medicine and the NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) join together to celebrate and honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement with a poster exhibition in the lobby of the Lister Hill Center.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of touring this exhibition with Ms. Debra Chew, Director of NIH EDI, and Mr. Danny Dickerson, Director of EDI’s Diversity and Inclusion Division. We talked about the power of citizens to affect change and observed how far we have come—and how far we have yet to go—toward true equality. But we also took time to quietly take in the exhibit.

I was struck immediately by how young everyone looked in the photos—and in fact, they were. Julian Bond was only in his mid-20s but already a skilled activist, and Shirley Chisholm was not quite 40, still a few years shy of being the first African-American woman elected to Congress. The images of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. were the most striking to me—odd because his face is so familiar. But in these images I particularly noticed his eyes. At one and the same time they were lighthearted and welcoming, fierce and wise.

As a teenager in the 1960s and as the NLM Director today, I felt Dr. King’s call to act and to serve, with the slight warning that, while both could be fulfilling, both would be fraught with challenge.

But history has shown that those bold enough to confront challenges bring change.

The inspiration and hard work of the civil rights movement shaped health care in so many ways. We recognized that separate care is not equal care, and that those who experience the chronic stress of poor housing, limited schooling, and societal bias (increasingly subtle but sadly still present) have special needs. The medical literature is more complete now than it was 50 years ago, with greater attention to the experience of health by those whose race and ethnicity differ from what we once called “the majority.” NLM’s Specialized Information Services Division uses in-person and web-based strategies to make health information not simply available, but also accessible to those who hold different cultural values and have different life experiences. And our History of Medicine Division guides us to preserve not only typical images of health, such as anatomy drawings, but also the unexpected—images like the one above showing members of the Medical Committee for Civil Rights as they participate in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

And if you’re nearby, I encourage you to come to the National Library of Medicine, NIH Building 38a (Lister Hill Center), to walk through our brief history of the civil rights movement and to consider the brave men and women who stepped forward to ensure that all people share equal rights.

The exhibition is open through February 28 from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm weekdays, except federal holidays.

For more information about the exhibition, please contact Melanie Modlin, Deputy Director, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, National Library of Medicine at 301.496.7771.